National Postal Equipment Repair Building Evacuated in Topeka After 8 Employees Report Illness

The Topeka Capital Journal ^ | October 23, 2001 | Chris Moon

[umbra]

The building (National Postal Equipment Repair Facility) had recieved equipment from five postal facilities that had been contaminated with anthrax on the East Coast.

The decision to evacuate the building (at the Forbes Industrial Park in Topeka, Kansas) came after seven employees called the health agency Tuesday morning reporting flu-like symptoms. An eighth person who works as a postal worker in Topeka reported similar symptoms.

The health agency responded by taking nasal swabs from each employee for testing by the Kansas Department of Health and Enviornment.

[rwfromkansas]

bump

[rwfromkansas]

bump

[Scott from the Left Coast]

There seems to be a pretty steep learning curve in dealing with this -- and there have been a lot of errors (CDC, Health and Human Services) that people are paying for, with their lives in some cases. It is not unusual that the first response to something out of the ordinary is not satisfactory -- so I'm going to avoid trying to parcel out blame and demand wildly that "heads roll" -- but our officials simply MUST do a better job starting right now.

[rwfromkansas]

Why is this off breaking news?

[RightWingNilla]

Were these machines contaminated in NJ, DC, and FL and THEN sent to Kansas? I am confused. Scary to think these guys service that many machines (70%). We need to decentralize as much as possible with EVERYTHING.

[Lady GOP]

The building (National Postal Equipment Repair Facility) had recieved equipment from five postal facilities that had been contaminated with anthrax on the East Coast.

Yes, thats the way it sounds to me.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

I don't know. I've seen a whole bunch of wild garbage get thrown onto breaking news -- but this is obviously on the up and up and it is confirmed by more than one source. Nothing phony about this, and it seems to be a rather critical story.

[rwfromkansas]

The other breaking news events about anthrax or scares, or even Debka file things are okay, but you can't have this in breaking news? I am sorry, that is messed up.....seems to some Kansas is not important, but if New York people come down with illness, no matter whether it is confirmed to be anthrax or not, it stays in breaking news.

[mercy]

It's a damn good thing you picked up that handle AFTER 9/11. Otherwise the boys in the blue suits would be around asking WHAT did you know and WHEN did you know it? You're still prescient as far as I'm concerned. ;)

[aristeides]

How was the equipment transported from those sites to Topeka? Any danger from the process of transportation?

[aristeides]

How about giving these people the antitoxin that is under development?

[umbra]

Check KCTV Channel 5 out of Kansas City, some of the infected equipment got into the heartland somehow before the anthrax was detected.

[PISANO]

so I'm going to avoid trying to parcel out blame and demand wildly that "heads roll" -- but our officials simply MUST do a better job starting right now.

Hey Scott when you start parcelling out blame REMEMBER 911 and you need go no furthur. If you go down this path WE are going to implode and the Terrorists WIN. Stop waiting and wishing for the GOVERNMENT to take care of you. They will NOT because they CAN'T. You must take care of yourself. Remember this WE ARE AT WAR!!!!!!!!!

There will be casualties, it is the very NATURE of WAR! Get prepared, be vigilant and remember WHO THE ENEMY IS!

[umbra]

11 now sick in Topeka, CBS station channel 5 in Kansas City reporting...

[newsperson999]

TOPEKA, Kan., Associated Press -- Officials sent 175 people home Tuesday from a U.S. Postal Service repair facility that received equipment from East Coast mail centers involved in anthrax cases.

Some of the machinery came from the Brentwood mail center in Washington, D.C., and from facilities in New Jersey and Florida where letters containing anthrax spores had been handled, said Dr. Larry Rumans, the Shawnee County health officer.

He said the U.S. Postal Service Central Repairs Facility was closed as a precaution because of what he referred to as a credible potential exposure.

He said no anthrax spores had been found on the site, a large building in an industrial warehouse complex near the Forbes Field airport on the city's south side. It was not known how long the building would be closed.

Rumans said the people working in the building, employed either by the postal service or a private contractor, ASI Inc., had all been encouraged to contact either their own doctors or the county health department to begin precautionary treatment with antibiotics.

He said 10 or 11 of the people had exhibited flu-like symptoms Dr. Gianfranco Pezzino, the state epidemiologist, said his department has received many calls from people around Kansas expressing concern that they might have been exposed to anthrax, but no cases have been confirmed.

"This is the one that looks more serious," he said.

State health officials have conducted tests and said they don't expect results for 24 to 72 hours. Rumans said health officials did not know how long equipment from the three postal facilities had been at the repair center, but that it arrived after Sept. 11.

He said he did not know what form of transportation was used to get the equipment to Topeka. Rumans said he believed about 70 percent of the nation's mail-handling equipment is sent to Topeka when it needs repair.

[FreedomFarmer]

This is interesting.

Guess which FReeper went to Forbes to inspect and leave a sealed bid on an old antique postal safe today.

Crap.

[rwfromkansas]

checked them....are you getting this from their web or from the tv?

[imperator2]

Give all postal workers anthrax vaccine NOW

[Nuke'm Glowing]

It's only fair. We in Florida are getting it all bad this past year. Algore, terrorists, tropical storms, Anthrax. Next thing that will happen to ruin my year is Bubba buying a winter home near me.

[Nuke'm Glowing]

LOL, just a bystander in the highway of life now. Or is that an armadillo trying to cross the interstate of life. I always get that wrong.